We consider two celebrated criteria for defining the nonclassicality of bipartite bosonic quantum systems, the first stemming from information theoretic concepts and the second from physical constraints on the quantum phase space. Consequently, two sets of allegedly classical states are singled out: (i) the set $\mathcal{C}$ composed of the so-called classical-classical (CC) states—separable states that are locally distinguishable and do not possess quantum discord; (ii) the set $\mathcal{P}$ of states endowed with a positive $P$ representation ($P$-classical states)—mixtures of Glauber coherent states that, e.g., fail to show negativity of their Wigner function. By showing that $\mathcal{C}$ and $\mathcal{P}$ are almost disjoint, we prove that the two defining criteria are maximally inequivalent. Thus, the notions of classicality that they put forward are radically different. In particular, generic CC states show quantumness in their $P$ representation, and vice versa, almost all $P$-classical states have positive quantum discord and, hence, are not CC. This inequivalence is further elucidated considering different applications of $P$-classical and CC states. Our results suggest that there are other quantum correlations in nature than those revealed by entanglement and quantum discord.

• Received 17 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.260403